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strategies that are favoured by translators in dealing with CSIs in practice or to see whether any strategies might be preferable to their alternatives in terms of achieving an effective translation. Findings of the research may provide an insight into the practical value of the various translation strategies proposed by different scholars. 1.4 Design and methodology The current research study consists of two parts: first, the selection of scenes that require the translator to deal with differences between Chinese culture and US culture, in terms of politeness, as express by Hofstede‟s four benchmarks of power distance, masculinity, collectivism/individualism and uncertainty avoidance, even though Friends is not a true representation of US everyday culture, as outlined above. Secondly, it offers a selection of scenes that show how subtitle producers handled CSIs. By summarising the strategies that were used by subtitle producers but were deemed not satisfactory against four standards (brevity, reliability, effectiveness and synchronisation) and proposing alternative strategies, the research will suggest what strategies might be more suitable when dealing with CSIs in English to Chinese subtitle translation. 1.5 Structure of the thesis The introduction is followed by a review of the literature and past research. This includes an overview of the existing studies with the emphasis on key concepts in the analysis of the Chinese culture and the US culture (such as face, politeness and intergroup relationship) and strategies used in dealing with CSIs. Chapter One contains an outline of the structure of the whole dissertation, including a brief discussion of the significance of the study. It also gives an outline of design and methodology. Chapter two presents a review of the literature, which consists of two parts, focusing firstly in cultural differences between the culture of mainland China and the US culture. Hofstede‟s four dimensions, collectivism/individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and power distance are discussed as they are referred to in the analysis of cultural differences. Politeness is also discussed with the emphasis placed on the differences in the concept of politeness or courtesy in the two different cultures. The second part is concerned with the analysis of strategies used in subtitle production and 3
CSI translation. Strategies recommended by well-known theorists such as Nida, Newmark, Aixelá and Davies will be discussed and their perspectives compared. Chapter Three presents a detailed description of the methodology adopted by this study. In this chapter, the purpose of the study is restated, that is, to study the strategies used by translators in dealing with CSIs and other cultural differences. The use of HPTEs (High probability Translation Equivalent), based on Nida‟s theory of dynamic equivalence (Nida, 1969), is recommended. This approach requires the researcher to find HPTEs for the subtitling of original discourse and to measure outcomes against the four criteria of brevity, reliability, synchronisation and efficacy. Chapter Four presents the pilot analysis. This pilot analysis helped the researcher to decide on the final research instruments for subtitle translation analysis undertaken. Chapter Five presented analyses and findings of scenes involving politeness, followed by scenes involving different Culture Specific Items and their respective subtitle translations. Chapter Six, which contains the main analysis and discussion, is a review of findings of the study with a discussion of these findings‟ implications (such as the strategies that can be used in handling CSIs effectively). Chapter Seven presents a summary of all the previous chapters as well as a discussion of the issues that arise from the study and might attract scholars‟ attention in this area. 1.6 Summary Analysing the application of strategies in dealing with CSIs in the English to Chinese subtitle translation of American television soap operas has gained significance in recent years as US-made soap operas are now being watched around the world. The importance of the study is further highlighted by the fact that the subtitle translators needed to deal with some obvious differences between Mainland Chinese culture and the US culture. By offering an analysis of the performance of strategies used in handling CSIs in Friends, this study may contribute to the existing literature on cross-cultural communication, audiovisual translation and translation of CSIs and that will, in turn, provide implications for further study. 4
Page 1 and 2: A comparative analysis of subtitlin
Page 3 and 4: Attestation of authorship I hereby
Page 5 and 6: Abstract The dissertation is based
Page 7 and 8: 3.5 Instruments 3.5.1 Subtitle anal
Page 9 and 10: INDEX OF TABLES Table 3.1 Diagramma
Page 11: two-step analysis was that it was e
Page 15 and 16: during which Confucianist ideas wer
Page 17 and 18: ureaucratic organisational structur
Page 19 and 20: the company. As Friends is a Sitcom
Page 21 and 22: normally requires the intense use o
Page 23 and 24: indicator of his humbleness (Steven
Page 25 and 26: Chinese viewers‟ interest in the
Page 27 and 28: television series, a „dynamic equ
Page 29 and 30: cases where cultural differences ar
Page 31 and 32: can be used to gauge the performanc
Page 33 and 34: the CSI to be translated in the tar
Page 35 and 36: 3.1 Introduction Chapter Three: Met
Page 37 and 38: proposed by Aixelá (1996) into 3 s
Page 39 and 40: and a suggested High probability Tr
Page 41 and 42: Table 3.1: Diagrammatic overview of
Page 43 and 44: Friends has given people numerous o
Page 45 and 46: average Mainland Chinese viewer may
Page 47 and 48: in show business.” c) The Subtitl
Page 49 and 50: 4.2 Summary of analysis The above m
Page 51 and 52: analysis has been described without
Page 53 and 54: c) Possible clues for cultural diff
Page 55 and 56: people for help (such as personal b
Page 57 and 58: Let alone, children too often rely
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6.2.1 General references to America
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My own suggested HPTE would be: “
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to be father. He had a dinner with
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e immediately understood in America
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know that Mr. Pig is derogatory. Th
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Monica thought that she is Joan Col
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delete this reference. Season 2, Ep
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Vandamme are men or women. My sugge
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keeping everything tidy and organiz
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CSI and use a general term “the b
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history.” Here absolute universal
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would work best in the given senten
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these circumstances is shown as fol
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Nida‟s theory of dynamic equivale
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in terms of what Nida (1969) descri
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7.6 Limitations of the research and
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Hershatter, G. (2007). Women in Chi
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Wikipedia (2008). Friends. http://e
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